By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Fran McCaffery was in his early years as the Iowa men’s basketball coach when he asked that I meet with him in his office at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

I was working for the Iowa City Press-Citizen at the time and had written a recruiting article that upset Fran McCaffery.

In fact, he was so upset that he also wanted the editor and the sports editor for the Press-Citizen to attend the meeting.

All three of us accepted his invitation and Fran McCaffery would then go on to explain why he took offense to what I had written.

He didn’t scream or hurl expletives or make threats about cutting off our coverage.

He just calmly explained why he had a problem with the article.

He then thanked us for meeting with him, and that was it.

I left his office wondering if Fran McCaffery would hold a grudge and never look at me the same way.

But he didn’t.

The next time I saw him, it was business as usual.

And for that I will forever be grateful.

To see Fran McCaffery let go after 15 mostly successful seasons makes this a sad day.

This isn’t to suggest that Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz was wrong to make a coaching change because she has to do what she feels is in the best interest of the Iowa program.

And with Iowa having its worst home attendance in 60 years, and with Iowa now having failed to make the NCAA Tournament in two straight seasons, Goetz has decided that it is time to move on without Fran McCaffery.

Okay. Fair enough.

But it’s still hard to see him go.

Most of my memories with Fran McCaffery will be pleasant ones.

It’s hard to think of an Iowa head coach who enjoys making small talk with the media more than Fran McCaffery does.

Some in the media might strongly disagree with that assessment. But I can only speak from from my experiences.

Fran McCaffery almost always returned phone calls and he came on KCJJ radio when he was requested and was always a pleasure to interview.

He and his wife, Margaret, have made it their life’s mission to raise money and awareness to fight cancer.

Fran lost both of his parents to cancer and his middle son, Patrick McCaffery, had a malignant tumor removed from his thyroid when he was in junior high.

KCJJ station owner Steve Bridges has twice beat cancer, so Fran knew that his guest appearances on the radio meant so much to Steve, and to everybody associated with the station.

When Iowa reached out to ask if Fran could be on the radio to promote an upcoming event related to his fight against cancer, we were honored that he would choose our platform to spread his message.

Fran McCaffery, like everybody else, isn’t perfect.

There have been times when he probably has regretted losing his temper during a game, though he usually believes that he has a good reason for lashing out.

He was ejected from Thursday’s 106-94 loss to Illinois in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament with 13 minutes, 33 seconds left in the second half .

Fran McCaffery was upset with the foul discrepancy and was determined to go down fighting for his players.

The fact that he was ejected from his final game as a Hawkeye might suggest that Fran McCaffery already knew his fate.

What I’ll choose to remember about Fran McCaffery is how he lifted the Iowa program from the ashes of the Todd Lickliter disaster, and how he did it the right way by recruiting good players and good kids.

It’s hard to even think of the last time an Iowa player under Fran McCaffery had a scrape with the law.

His players also rarely have transferred out of the program, and the way in which he has developed players is a tribute to his coaching ability and to his ability to teach and to inspire.

Iowa’s lack of NIL resources made it difficult for Fran McCaffery to attract players, and yet he still managed to find the right fits from the transfer portal, including current graduate point guard Drew Thelwell.

Fran McCaffery believes in the old-fashioned way of building and sustaining rosters by recruiting players out of high school and then developing them.

He considers his team to be like a family, and the best way to build a family is from the ground up rather than with quick fixes or with gutting the roster.

Fran McCaffery also has embraced the spirit of Chris Street and he did all he could to keep Street’s memory alive because it was the right thing to do. He also made Street’s parents a key piece of the Iowa culture.

I wish Fran McCaffery would have kept playing Drake and Northern Iowa, and I wish his teams would have played better defense.

But in my opinion, the good still outweighs the bad with Fran McCaffery, who leaves as Iowa’s all-time winningest head coach with 297 victories.

And if he still wants to keep coaching, a school could do a lot worse than hiring Fran McCaffery, who will turn 66 in May.

He led Iowa to seven NCAA Tournament appearances and to upper division finishes in the Big Ten in 11 of the last 13 seasons.

He also coached four All-Americans and had six players selected in the NBA draft.

His 2025 recruiting was also one of his best with two four-star prospects in the class.

What Fran McCaffery failed to do, however, is lead Iowa beyond the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and keep the fan base energized and engaged.

And that ultimately is what led to Fran McCaffery being let go.

Fran McCaffery was a hoops legend growing up in Philadelphia, earning the nickname “White Magic.”

But he rarely would talk about his success as a player unless he was asked.

Fran McCaffery was more concerned about promoting his players than promoting himself because he already had his time to shine many years ago.

His ego didn’t need a boost.

Once the news broke that Fran McCaffery had been let go, the tributes started showing up on social media, including former National Player of Year Luka Garza thanking Fran McCaffery on X for changing his life and the lives of so many others.

“Choosing to play in the black and gold was the best decision I have ever made for a lot of reasons, but mainly because I was able to be coached by you,” Garza said.

Fran McCaffery could have resented the Iowa women’s basketball team’s unprecedented success under legendary point guard Caitlin Clark, and used it as an excuse for why his team struggled to draw fans because it probably was a factor.

But instead, he celebrated the success of the women’s program and helped to promote it.

His oldest son, Connor McCaffery, is now in a relationship with Caitlin Clark, and you can assume that Connor and Caitlin were both hurting today.

As much as the McCaffery family loves the game of basketball, family always comes first with them.

Fran McCaffery also could have used injuries as an excuse for Iowa’s struggles this season, but he didn’t.

He just kept grinding and competing, making do with what he had from a player standpoint and saying that injuries are just an unfortunate part of the game and something that every team deals with.

Fran McCaffery had the privilege of coaching two of his sons – Connor and Patrick – while at Iowa, and for the most part they all made it work.

When Patrick McCaffery took time away from basketball to deal with anxiety, Fran McCaffery showed grace and compassion as his devoted father.

As for Fran McCaffery’s replacement, multiple sources have said that hiring Darian DeVries is already a done deal.

No matter who gets the job, Iowa has to figure a way to raise more NIL money because a head coach can only do much selling without the necessary resources.

Fran McCaffery said after the loss to Illinois that it would take about $6 million annually in NIL money for Iowa to be competitive.

That’s about $5 million more than Iowa is currently raising each year.

And while you can dwell on the sagging attendance for why Fran McCaffery was let go, Iowa’s lack of resources also played a significant role in his downfall.

The Fran McCaffery coaching era at Iowa is now over after 15 seasons, making this a tough day.

Fran McCaffery will certainly be missed, but not forgotten.